Should there have been a couple more arcs in Dragon Ball Z

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Should there have been a couple more arcs in Dragon Ball Z

Post by PiccoloFan7289 » Wed Jun 20, 2012 10:21 pm

I think the series could have had at least two more big Arc's/Sagas. The best place for these arcs would be between the Freeza Arc/Cell Arc and Cell Arc/Majin Boo Arc. These are the biggest gaps of time in the series, with the Freeza Arc/Cell Arc having 5 years between them and Cell Arc/Majin Boo Arc having 7 years between them. We do get to see some stuff (a lot of it being filler or non-canon) in the 5 year gap between the Freeza Arc and Cell Arc such as the Garlic Jr. Arc, Cooler Movies (I place Return of Cooler in this 5 year gap, but the events clearly happened in another timeline, possibly the original timeline), and Freeza and King Cold's invasion of Earth (What I like to call the Mecha Freeza Arc) All of these side stories (besides the canon stuff) are great to fill in the gaps here but I would have preferred a much longer arc here with one storyline, possibly something comparable in length to the Saiyan Arc. As for the seven year gap between the Cell and Majin Boo Arc's, we barely get anything. The only material we get here is Bojack Unbound and the Ano-Yo ichi Budoukai Arc. Toei could have done so much more in this time period, because the characters change so much during these seven years, much more than in the five year gap between the Freeza Arc and Cell Arc. Toei could have created a bad-ass filler arc in this seven year time period that had Gohan being portrayed as the main hero and saving the day. The Garlic Jr. Arc tried to do this, but this type of arc would have so much more of an impact and time to flesh itself out during the seven year gap between the Cell Arc and Majin Boo Arc.

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Re: Should there have been a couple more arcs in Dragon Ball

Post by Insertclevername » Wed Jun 20, 2012 10:25 pm

As much as I would love to see Cell arc era Gohan growing up, I would have to say that if there was any in between filler, it would totally diminish the whole, "this is them, 7 years later!" theme they were going with. However if it was done now, after the fact, then yes, why not?
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Re: Should there have been a couple more arcs in Dragon Ball

Post by DarkPrince_92 » Wed Jun 20, 2012 11:32 pm

I'd like an interim between the Frieza and Trunks saga, that isn't with Garlic Jr. I wanna see more of Vegeta and his trials, thinking he's now the universes strongest now that Goku and Frieza are gone.


Edit: This is to replace the Garlic Jr. Saga....I know some of you assholes don't want to make the story an longer...neither do I.
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Re: Should there have been a couple more arcs in Dragon Ball

Post by Chuquita » Thu Jun 21, 2012 1:25 am

I like thinking up "What ifs" for stuff that could've happened during the years-long gaps between arcs. Actually, I appreciate that there are such huge gaps because it lets the imagination run wild. This is something that's difficult to do with other series where everything happens one right after the other.

I would welcome additional Jump Tour specials that take place during the gaps if they were to make more.
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Re: Should there have been a couple more arcs in Dragon Ball

Post by penguintruth » Thu Jun 21, 2012 2:46 am

Yes, that's what the already bloated story needed. MORE story arcs. :roll:
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Re: Should there have been a couple more arcs in Dragon Ball

Post by dbboxkaifan » Thu Jun 21, 2012 6:51 am

There was more than enough (IMHO).

The anime version of DBZ had 291 episodes so if it had one more arc it'd reach 350 episodes or so, even more chapters than Kiteretsu.
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Re: Should there have been a couple more arcs in Dragon Ball

Post by Fizzer » Thu Jun 21, 2012 8:12 am

I like the idea of having a better and longer Garlic Jr saga, because that story did have potential, it was great that it wasn't just "villain appears > do training > kill villain in fight". To avoid continuity errors there could be another Garlic Jr arc showing his first defeat either between the 23rd Tenkaichi Boudoukai arc and the Saiyan arc, or between the Heavenly Training arc and the 23rd Tenkaichi Boudoukai arc, while Goku is already at God's temple, since it wouldn't at all have to follow the events of the Dead Zone movie. Perhaps Goku, Popo and God defeated Garlic Jr. Maybe Piccolo did turn up, even before the 23rd Tenkaichi Boudoukai arc, in order to save his own life by avoiding God's death, and we get a glimpse of how powerful he is and a little stand off between him and Goku, with a "See you at the tournament, Son Goku" or some dark and ominous line to have us look forward to the next arc.

Between the Cell and Buu arcs... Yes, I'd also like another arc there. The problem with this gap is that while the series flows fairly nicely from the Hunt for the Dragon Balls arc to the Cell arc, the story picking up after this gap feels like a sequel to the rest of the series, so more story in between would help to smooth this out. I'd also like to see some less actiony parts here, like how Kuririn and 18 end up together, what happens to 17, Goten as a baby...

Maybe we could get to see how Trunks and Goten become Super Saiyans, and have it explained by one of the more intelligent characters that Saiyan-human hybrids appear to be able to access their power more easily than pure Saiyans, including going Super Saiyan, especially those born without tails, to clear up that little inconsistency (that Super Saiyan was such a big thing to start with).

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Re: Should there have been a couple more arcs in Dragon Ball

Post by PiccoloFan7289 » Thu Jun 21, 2012 7:50 pm

I would have liked Cooler to get his own arc in the anime instead of having movies. I guess In a way he sorta does have his own arc because his movies take place right after one another but it's still not the same. If you divide up everything between the Freeza Saga and Cell Saga you kinda can put together 3 mini arcs. The Garlic Jr. Arc, the Cooler Arc, and if you group the Trunks Special in with the episodes before the timeskip you kinda have an arc right there too. I guess you could combine all of this content together and have like a mini-saga. You could even throw in Super Android 13 because it most likely takes place in the timeline created by the Trunks of Cell's timeline. 18 Episodes, 3 Movies, and 1 TV special is enough content for a mini-saga. But what would you call it?

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Re: Should there have been a couple more arcs in Dragon Ball

Post by AgitoZ » Thu Jun 21, 2012 7:54 pm

PiccoloFan7289 wrote:18 Episodes, 3 Movies, and 1 TV special is enough content for a mini-saga. But what would you call it?
A bloated set of filler episodes.
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Re: Should there have been a couple more arcs in Dragon Ball

Post by DoomieDoomie911 » Sat Jun 23, 2012 1:41 pm

I would have loved to see a Ark in between the Cell Ark and Boo Ark. I would really liked to see Goten as a baby, and see Gohan get older. But I have to agree that the series was long enough.
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Re: Should there have been a couple more arcs in Dragon Ball

Post by sangofe » Sat Jun 23, 2012 5:16 pm

I would have loved a new series taking up on DBZ after boo -- keeping the art style with just a more modern look.

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Re: Should there have been a couple more arcs in Dragon Ball

Post by Fizzer » Mon Jul 09, 2012 6:08 am

I've just thought back to this while re-reading Dragon Ball volume 10, and I think there should have been another arc between the Uranai Baba and 22nd Tenkaichi arcs. Not just the few ultra-formulaic episodes that we got in the anime, but some bigger adventures of Goku during his travels. I'd really like to see in on his many experiences during those three years, as I'm sure he learnt about a lot of things other than fighting.

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Re: Should there have been a couple more arcs in Dragon Ball

Post by Rory » Mon Jul 09, 2012 7:42 am

No. If anything, it could've done with less. I really don't think the Boo arc needed to be as long as it was (I also think it could've been something else all together, but that's just going off topic). There could've been arcs in-between arcs based around character development, but I doubt that would've felt very 'Dragon Ball'.

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Re: Should there have been a couple more arcs in Dragon Ball

Post by Saiga » Mon Jul 09, 2012 7:56 am

It never should have ended. 8)
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Re: Should there have been a couple more arcs in Dragon Ball

Post by MisguidedGhost » Mon Jul 09, 2012 2:51 pm

I honestly always thought the Shadow Dragons Arc in GT was a great idea, since there really was so much abuse of the dragonballs throughout the series. It seemed like a fitting end to the series, actually fighting against basically the dragonballs themselves, which had taken a backseat as a reset button just to be used to wish people back. It was executed really badly, but I still thought the idea was great and I would've liked it if the series ended with an arc on the Shadow Dragons, just one taken with more care and respect.

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Re: Should there have been a couple more arcs in Dragon Ball

Post by PhoenixEX » Tue Jul 10, 2012 6:39 am

God almighty, no.
GT proved how much the series had been milked over the years.
I personally believe it started off amazing, but should have ended at the Cell Saga. I mean I love Buu and all the post-cell saga characters introduced (including those in GT), it helped create a whole new generation of anime, but plot wise Dragon Ball was done at the Cell Saga. But I guess things happen for a reason.
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Re: Should there have been a couple more arcs in Dragon Ball

Post by Fizzer » Wed Jul 11, 2012 8:31 am

Everything just went stupid during the Buu arc. I love Super Saiyan 3, and a lot of things in that arc, but 7-year-old Super Saiyans? I'd drop everything after Cell just because of that.

I agree that the Shadow Dragon arc was good. The rest of GT sucked, but the Buu arc leading into the Shadow Dragon arc would have been pretty good, that is, if the Shadow Dragon story was better pulled off than in GT. It would have made sense since the Dragon Ball's were used at the end of the Buu arc, and this way we could have had GT's ending, which I think most people agree is better than Z's, too, which would be an added bonus.

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Re: Should there have been a couple more arcs in Dragon Ball

Post by Li'l Lemmy » Wed Jul 11, 2012 11:19 am

fizzer wrote:Everything just went stupid during the Buu arc. I love Super Saiyan 3, and a lot of things in that arc, but 7-year-old Super Saiyans? I'd drop everything after Cell just because of that.
One of the qualities used to compensate for the Boo arc's drastic abuse of logic is that it reinserted "fun" characters like Goten and Trunks into the mix. The fact that they're Super Saiyans is, to me, part of both that fun feeling and the general illogic mentioned earlier, and it's certainly not enough where I'd consider dropping the whole arc just because. ;p


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Re: Should there have been a couple more arcs in Dragon Ball

Post by Piccolo Daimao » Wed Jul 11, 2012 11:49 am

Li'l Lemmy wrote:
fizzer wrote:Everything just went stupid during the Buu arc. I love Super Saiyan 3, and a lot of things in that arc, but 7-year-old Super Saiyans? I'd drop everything after Cell just because of that.
One of the qualities used to compensate for the Boo arc's drastic abuse of logic is that it reinserted "fun" characters like Goten and Trunks into the mix. The fact that they're Super Saiyans is, to me, part of both that fun feeling and the general illogic mentioned earlier, and it's certainly not enough where I'd consider dropping the whole arc just because. ;p


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It still went too far, and while it was nice that Toriyama wasn't so restricted by his editors (the guys that made him change the main villain/s in the Cell arc three times), it seemed as if he just went, "Fuck it, I don't care if this makes sense, I'm just gonna make shit up." This is after he'd written about four arcs worth of mostly serious stuff. Things like the Ginyuu Tokusentai and Mr. Satan were mostly just exceptions, but the Boo arc just tried to mesh the serious with the silly and the blend didn't come out entirely right.

Although I don't agree with him that dropping the whole arc would be beneficial, since a good number of us might not have even become fans because of that admittedly significant portion of the series. There's a lot of people who like the Great Saiyaman, Super Saiyan 2, Super Saiyan 3, Maouji Vegeta (many call his self-destruction scene his defining moment of the series), his redemption, Fusion, Majin Boo, Ultimate Gohan, Mr. Satan, his redemption, and Videl.
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Re: Should there have been a couple more arcs in Dragon Ball

Post by AgitoZ » Wed Jul 11, 2012 12:09 pm

Piccolo Daimao wrote:It still went too far, and while it was nice that Toriyama wasn't so restricted by his editors (the guys that made him change the main villain/s in the Cell arc three times), it seemed as if he just went, "Fuck it, I don't care if this makes sense, I'm just gonna make shit up."
"Made him" is probably a bad choice of words. It was actually more pressure put on by his previous editors that made Toriyama change the antagonists so many times.
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